ST ANDREW, Jamaica — The National Water Commission (NWC) today said that repair work on the sewerage system on Constant Spring Road has been hampered by several factors including greater damage below the surface of the roadway.

The roadway in the vicinity of Market Place collapsed on Thursday resulting a road closure and remedial work being undertaken by the National Works Agency (NWA) and the NWC.

“While the sewer replacement component of the work is nearing completion, the overall emergency work has been hampered by a number of challenges,” NWC said in a release today.

These include:

• A much wider area of damage than was initially visible from the surface;

• The sewers being buried more than 20 feet below the surface requiring the use of shoring and piling to secure sections of the trench-line;

•Having to work on the sewers that are still in active use;

•The presence of a number of utility infrastructure including water pipes, and various underground cables as well as electricity and telephone poles and wires above ground, crisscrossing the work area.

NWC said it has partially completed work to allow for the resumption of traffic flows along the south-bound section of the roadway.

“Working in close collaboration with the NWA and the police, NWC and its contractor have been working non-stop to excavate and explore the collapsed areas; identify the underground issues; arrange for the sourcing and delivery to the site of all the required material, equipment and expertise required to effectively respond to the emergency; remove and replace the damaged section of sewers; and reinstate the area to allow for normal traffic flows,” the commission explained.

NWC said every effort is being made to have the work completed by Wednesday or at the earliest possible time.